Hannah at Hogwarts
by Waveforms
Summary: Hogwarts from Hannah Abbott's point of view. Roughly one chapter for every year. Slight Hannah/Harry, Hannah/Neville and other ships, but this will mostly be a genfic. Rated K for now, subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** I'm writing this because Hannah Abbott remains a relatively unexplored character, although she was _really_ unexplored before JK Rowling said in an interview that she ended up marrying Neville. This was originally going to be a one-shot but it would have been way too long. I plan on doing one chapter for each year (perhaps two for seventh year) and maybe an epilogue.

I will try to keep this in line with canon but I am taking a few liberties (like Hannah's brother, etc.) because this story would be incredibly boring if I only worked with the details that JK Rowling gave us.

Hope you enjoy, and if you could leave a review that would be highly awesome of you. Even if you don't, I'm glad you're reading.

* * *

The beginning of Hannah's magical journey was an inauspicious one; she was born into a magical family, blew up her older brother's birthday cake when she was five due to uncontrolled jealousy, and got her Hogwarts letter when she was eleven. Of course, there was a lot more to it than that, but none of it was terribly exciting. Even during Voldemort's first reign of terror, the Abbotts were relatively unaffected. They were pureblood, after all, and there was no reason for them to get involved in what was clearly someone else's war.

Hannah grew up listening to stories of Harry Potter. As she grew older she harbored the standard prince-rescuing-princess fantasies that most girls her age had. These fantasies never had a concrete situation from which she needed saving; her mind always skipped to the part where handsome Harry Potter came to retrieve her. When her Hogwarts letter arrived, she realized for the first time that she would actually be _seeing_ Harry Potter in school, that they might be in the same house, even. This thought excited her tremendously.

Her first trip on the Hogwarts Express was also her first contact with Harry Potter. Her brother grudgingly let her tag along with him, so instead of meeting other girls her age, she spent the train ride in a compartment full of rowdy fourth-years who played Exploding Snap in the loudest manner possible. Halfway through the journey another one of her brother's friends burst into the compartment and told them that he had just seen Harry Potter - _the_ Harry Potter - in a compartment near the back of the train. Her brother and his friends seemed interested but elected not to go have a look; they would see him at the feast, anyway. Hannah was secretly disappointed, but was too frightened by the prospect of wandering around the train by herself to entertain notions of going to look for him.

When they arrived and Hogsmeade and disembarked, Hannah just got a glimpse of Harry Potter's back. He was standing next to a lanky red-haired boy (clearly a Weasley) and looked very tiny by comparison. When he was greeted by the gigantic bearded man she would later learn was Hagrid, the groundskeeper, he looked smaller still. Hannah felt slightly let down. Was _that_ her prince? He looked like a plain old eleven-year-old boy to her.

Soon she found herself sitting in a boat with three other scared-looking first-years, none of whom wanted to say anything. Hannah could sympathize. She felt like she would throw up if she opened her mouth. Like everybody else, she gasped in awe when she got the first glimpse of Hogwarts castle. It looked very large and daunting from their perspective on the lake, and it looked larger and more daunting when Hagrid led them up to the entrance.

Now came the part which Hannah was dreading most; the sorting. She had tried asking her parents what would be expected of her but they had only smiled indulgently and kept their lips tightly closed regarding the matter. Her brother had been even less of a help; the only thing he had said was, "Abbott's right at the beginning of the alphabet, so you'll be going first, twerp. Usually the first one doesn't make it." He had said it in a joking manner, but, nevertheless, she was frightened close to panic as she stood in the Great Hall's antechamber.

Hannah didn't have long to ruminate, because within minutes they were being ushered into the Great Hall, where hundreds of students were waiting and twice as many eyeballs were eyeing them. McGonagall brought out a stool with a hat on it, but Hannah couldn't figure out what they were supposed to do with it. Was it going to attack them? When McGonagall explained that they would only have to put on a hat, she shared the indignation of some of her fellow first-years who had been similarly duped by their relatives. However, a new concern was now pushed to the forefront. Which house would she be sorted into? Her brother and father were both Hufflepuffs, and her mom was a Ravenclaw, but she had close relatives from every house. Her parents had never told her which house they expected her to get into, which was odd considering that they had always made their expectations for her very clear.

Unexpectedly, the hat opened its mouth and began to sing. The tall black boy standing next to her was clearly muggle-born, because he jumped noticeably when the hat began its song.

Hannah listened intently, but she still had no idea what house would be most appropriate for her. She didn't feel like she had any of the qualities for any of the houses. So when she stumbled out of line to be the first to put on the hat, she was too preoccupied with speculation to be nervous that she was the first in line and that everybody was looking at her. She sat down on the stool and put on the hat, which only had a few things to say to her: "friendly and loyal, better be HUFFLEPUFF!"

It occurred to her at that moment that if the table furthest to her right hadn't started clapping and hollering loudly, she would have no idea which table she was supposed to sit at. She took off the hat and scurried over to the Hufflepuff table, where she was greeted with a few smiles and pats on the back. Her brother, halfway down the table, was giving her the thumbs-up. She smiled back weakly and wished she could get up and sit next to him.

The next person to be sorted was also put in Hufflepuff. She sat down next to Hannah and smiled.

"I'm Susan."

"I heard," Hannah responded. She had attempted to sound cool and composed but was surprised at how curt she sounded. In an attempt to rectify things, she gave a small smile.

It seemed to work, because Susan began to giggle and said, "Yes, I suppose you did." Soon they were both giggling and chatting excitedly about what their classes and professors would be like. Hannah hardly paid attention when several other students were sorted into Hufflepuff.

When McGonagall called out "Potter, Harry" however, Hannah's attention snapped directly back to the sorting, along with almost everyone else's. He looked completely terrified, not at all like somebody who could defeat a dark wizard. In Hannah's opinion, he wasn't unattractive, but he definitely didn't look anything like he had in her fantasies. The hat took a long time on him, and when it finally sorted him into Gryffindor, Hannah was distinctly disappointed. She hoped they would have a few classes together, at least.

That night, after meeting her and Susan's roommate, Megan Jones, Hannah went to sleep with a much more realistic princess scenario in her dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:**

Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed the last chapter. This one proved to be harder to write than I anticipated. I wrote most of it and then realized that the canon timeline of events didn't line up with my version, so I had to do a major rewrite.

It occurred to me that the title "Hannah at Hogwarts" is spectacularly lame, but due to the superbly clever alliteration I probably won't be changing it. Also, nobody can argue that it doesn't portray the fic accurately. :)

* * *

"What's the holdup?" Ernie yelled angrily. "I've got charms to practice, and if you lot don't move, I'll be practicing hexes instead!" Hannah sighed inwardly. A little blockade in the hall was nothing to get worked up over, in her opinion.

A tall older student, probably a fifth or sixth year and Slytherin by his tie, turned around and looked down at the two second-year Hufflepuffs. "Shut it, would you? Filch's cat's been attacked, and famous Harry Potter was found at the scene of the crime. If you don't think it's worth watching, you can go find a hallway that's more to your liking."

Hannah would have liked to stay and see what happened, since she wasn't especially looking forward to practicing stirring charms, but Ernie was of another mind. They turned around and went the long way back to their common room. Neither she nor Ernie gave the incident much thought; most students harbored a desire to give Mrs. Norris a good punting, and Harry had most likely done what the student body had been afraid to do for years.

After the ill-fated dueling club meeting, Harry Potter aroused the suspicions of many, including Ernie. Hannah agreed that Harry Potter's ability to speak parseltongue was a fairly damning bit of evidence, but didn't want to jump to any conclusions. The fact that Harry Potter was, well, _Harry Potter_ helped his cause in Hannah's eyes. He had stopped He-who-must-not-be-named in his tracks, hadn't he?

When Justin was attacked, Hannah began to get slightly panicky. She wasn't friends with Justin like she was with Ernie and Susan, but he was always friendly and simply hadn't _deserved_ to be attacked. That's what bothered her the most; she _knew_ Justin and she _knew_ that he hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't known Colin Creevey at all, and for all she knew, he could have been perfectly deserving of petrification. But not Justin.

Ernie was now absolutely convinced of Harry Potter's guilt. Justin had had a run-in with him before, and now he was lying petrified in the hospital wing. Hannah was glad for the first time that she had had no significant interactions with Harry Potter in the year and a half they had been attending school together. If Harry Potter indeed was the attacker, there was no reason for him to target her that she could think of.

The night after Justin's petrification, Ernie featured in Hannah's dreams in the role of the heroic prince for the first time. He was saving her from an indistinct figure that she knew, somehow, was intent on killing her. When she woke up, it didn't occur to her that Harry Potter was conspicuously absent from this dream, both in the role of protector and attacker.

When word spread that both a muggle-born Ravenclaw Prefect _and_ Harry Potter's friend Hermione Granger had been the next victims, panic really began to set in, especially among the younger years and muggle-born students. Ernie, who had been extremely confident that Harry Potter was the perpetrator, was now unsure. This absence of surety was slightly disconcerting to Hannah, who had expected it to always be there, even if she didn't share Ernie's views.

Hannah, Ernie, and a few other second-years were sitting in the Hufflepuff common room when Ernie voiced the thoughts that he had been pondering over in the hours since the attack. "I've been thinking," Ernie stated unnecessarily before pausing; this was Hannah's cue to inquire further. Ernie always did this when he had something of importance to say.

"Yeah?"

"I just can't believe that Harry Potter would attack his friend like that. It's not something he would do. He doesn't have many friends as it is; what good would it do him to take one of them out? Plus, he's going to be failing all of his classes if Granger isn't around to help him out. He can't be the Heir of Slytherin."

There were two big things in Ernie's small view of the world; friends and grades. Everything else was secondary. That Harry Potter would violate the sanctity of both these things was simply beyond his comprehension. Hannah personally didn't think it was out of the question that Harry Potter was the culprit, though. It was clear now that he (or _it_, or whatever) was going after Muggle-borns, so why should a little thing like friendship be a deterrent?

Hannah didn't voice these opinions, however. It caused much less inner turmoil for her if Harry Potter was absolved from doubt. Also, Ernie didn't like being contradicted and Hannah didn't want to start a conflict. She carefully worded her response to sound as neutral as possible.

"It _does_ seem a little weird."

Susan, who was sitting with them, chimed in. "And he doesn't _look_ like he's attacking people. Shouldn't he be acting, you know, more. . ._evil_? Whenever I overhear him and that Weasley talking, it's about something boring like Quidditch or Transfiguration. He seems normal to me."

Ernie nodded vigorously. "And if he was willing to take out the Granger girl, why not take Weasley as well? Weasley would be most likely to figure things out since the two of them are practically joined at the hip, and whoever's doing this can't risk being found out. It's gotta be someone other than Harry."

Ernie considered the case closed, and even went so far as to apologize to Harry Potter for suspecting him, even though the possibility of Harry Potter being the person behind the attacks hadn't been entirely ruled out. Ernie refocused his suspicions onto Draco Malfoy, which Hannah found easy to follow along with; Draco Malfoy was simply an easy person to dislike, and seemed to fit the profile of a muggle-born attacker much better than Harry.

Like most students, Hannah hoped fervently that the attacks would stop and the culprit captured. Professor Sprout had made an announcement the night of the most recent attack that the school might have to be closed if there were any more attacks. Many students were either unable or unwilling to comprehend this notion and didn't give it much thought, Hannah and her friends included. The idea of Hogwarts actually_ closing_ was too unpleasant to think about.

A few weeks after Hermione Granger and the other girl had been attacked, Professor Sprout came into their common room looking very grave. She took a deep breath before beginning. "Everybody, I have an unfortunate announcement to make. There has been another attack, and this time, a student, a first year by the name of Ginny Weasley, has been taken directly into the chamber itself. Barring a miracle, this is the end of Hogwarts as we know it. Tomorrow all students will be sent home, and hopefully Hogwarts will be able to reopen somewhere safer."

Professor Sprout's words were met with shocked silence. Although Sprout had attempted to imply a little spot of hope into her announcement, Hannah could feel nothing but dread. Where would she go to school? When would she see all of her friends again? When would she see _Harry Potter_ again?

"I guess we'd better start packing," Ernie said stoically, getting up and walking towards the boy's dorms, but he was one of the few that did. All around the common room there were hushed conversations about what would happen next. Hannah stayed quiet as Susan, Megan, and Justin dicussed these things. It was ten o'clock by the time Hannah went up to bed, although she knew sleep wouldn't be forthcoming for at least another few hours. She changed out of her school robes, thinking that this would be the last time she had occasion to wear them. Just as she was settling into bed, an enormous cheer came up from the common room.

Hannah knew then that she would be returning to Hogwarts for her third year.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:**

Thanks to all who read the last chapter.

I know that in PoA, Hannah supposedly thought that Sirius Black could turn into a flowering shrub to evade detection. I think that line was only written to inject humor into the story, because it's a pretty stupid thing to include otherwise. It proved impossible to work into this chapter without totally ruining everything completely times a million, so I ignored it. Hannah might be slightly naive, but she's not dumb (according to me, and my opinion is obviously the most important, since I'm writing the story!).

I've noticed that this story is drifting more towards solid Hannah/Harry territory. I guess I'll just let it go where it wants.

Hope you like.

* * *

The Hogwarts Express clanked noisily as it made its way to Hogwarts. Halfway down the train, Hannah Abbott shared a compartment with Ernie MacMillan, Susan Bones, and Justin Finch-Fletchley. The reliably cozy train compartments were made cozier by the obsidian clouds and torrential rains outside the window; Hannah felt extremely snug in the warmly lit compartment. They had exhausted the topic of summers an hour ago and now talked about their expectations for third year.

"I've decided to start Muggle Studies," Ernie said. "I'm thinking about working as an Oblivator, you know, so it's really important to figure out how they live their lives."

"You idiot, you could just ask me," Justin said, laughing. "Maybe I _should_ have taken that class, I could use an easy 'E'!"

"You're already thinking about OWL's?" Hannah asked, somewhat nervously. She knew that if she started worrying about it now, she would be nothing but a quivering puddle by the time they actually came around.

"It's never too early to think about a test," Justin replied. "It's always best to be--hey, who turned out the lights?"

By the squeals and squeaks coming from other compartments, Hannah thought that many other students had the same question. She barely avoided letting out a yelp herself when she felt the train grind to a halt, nearly sending her tumbling out of her seat. By the sound of things, Susan _had_ ended up on the floor of their compartment. As her eyes adjusted to the near-total darkness, she saw a black shape glide by their compartment.

"Was that a Dementor?" Ernie exclaimed. "Why in Merlin's name would a Dementor be on the train?"

"It sure looked like one. God, those things give me the creeps," Susan responded from the floor, audibly shuddering.

As suddenly as they had gone off, the lights came on again. The train slowly built up speed and was soon clattering along the track. The rest of the trip was spent exchanging second-hand Dementor stories and speculating who they could have been looking for. The topic of Sirius Black came up quickly. If Sirius Black _had _been suspected of being on the train for whatever reason, Hannah didn't mind so much the presence of Dementors on the train. Dementors never went after innocents, the same of which could not be said for Sirius Black.

At the Sorting, the new first-years looked even more frightened than usual. Hannah didn't pay much attention to the Sorting, instead gazing around the Great Hall and making note of how much all of her classmates had changed over the summer. Most of the boys looked like they had grown a few inches. But where was Harry Potter? Had something happened to him on the train? This train of thought lead her to wonder if anybody (aside from her friends, of course) would notice if _she_ was missing from the feast.

When Dumbledore announced the long-term presence of Dementors at Hogwarts ("On Ministry Business"), Hannah was not as distraught as most of the other students. She didn't mind the loss of a few liberties in exchange for safety. As a few nearby seventh-years swore loudly, apparently cursing the fact that they would no longer be able to sneak out, Hannah's mind once again went to Sirius Black. This time she discarded the idea. What would Sirius Black want at Hogwarts?

* * *

"Huh? Wuzz happ'nin'?" Hannah asked groggily.

"Professor Sprout wants us down in the common room," Megan Jones said briskly. "It's important, apparently."

Hannah felt a small pang of fear, and the "Juzz a few more minuzz" that she had been about to mumble got caught in her throat. More alert, she got up and pulled a sweater over her nightdress, and, paying no heed to the fact that her hair was a mess and her feet were bare, walked down to the common room. Students in various states of dress (including Cedric Diggory with no shirt on, as Susan and many other girls excitedly pointed out) were milling around while Professor Sprout tapped her foot and waited for everybody to arrive. As soon as most students had been roused from their beds, she began to speak.

"Attention, everybody!" she yelled, pausing for a few seconds before going on. "There was a serious breach of castle security tonight. Convicted murderer Sirius Black was seen in the Gryffindor boy's dorms attempting to attack a student." With this, the undercurrent of whispering broke out into full-fledged commotion. Professor Sprout was compelled to issue a few more Shush!'s before she could resume. "When the student began to make a scene, Black ran out, and he hasn't been seen since. It is likely that he has left the castle, as it would be incredibly foolhardy to attempt to hide when an extremely thorough search will obviously be taking place, but as a precaution you will join the other three houses in sleeping in the Great Hall for the rest of the night."

This seemed like a silly idea to Hannah, as it would put all the students in one, easy-to-attack location, but she didn't say anything. A few older students piped up with the same complaint but Professor Sprout paid them no heed.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were already there, much of Gryffindor looking frightened and Ravenclaw simply confused.

"Do you suppose Flitwick told them anything?" Ernie whispered. "They look lost." Snape walked in leading the Slytherin students a moment later, all of whom looked like they hadn't been given an explanation, either.

There was absolute silence when Dumbledore raised his hands to garner everybody's attention. There was a bit of commotion when Dumbledore mentioned the name Sirius Black, and a bit more commotion when it was announced when they would sleep in the Great Hall that night, and an even louder commotion when sleeping bags appeared on the floor and people began to scramble for position.

As Hannah was settling in against the far wall with Susan, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see her brother, standing over her and smiling. "All right there, twerp?"

Hannah nodded impatiently. She didn't want to be babied. "I'm fine."

"I wouldn't mind sticking around if you, you know, want a little extra security or something. Sirius Black doesn't stand a chance against these," he said, raising his fists and smiling.

"I'll be fine, really. Go back with your friends."

"No way! I'm using this as a chance for some inter-house mingling!" he chortled before heading over to a group of seventh-year Gryffindor girls.

As Hannah crawled into her bag, Susan whispered, "Who do you think Black was going after?"

"I dunno," she replied, although she had an idea.

"I'm betting it was Harry Potter." At the sound of his name, Hannah's stomach gave a familiar flutter. "He always seems to be involved in these things."

"Yeah," Hannah responded, attempting to sound nonchalant. They had shared a dorm for two and a half years, but Susan did most of the talking about crushes while Hannah nodded. Susan didn't need to know about this crush. Harry Potter was less attainable than Cedric Diggory, for Merlin's sake.

"I'm betting he left the castle. Black, I mean. I don't think we need to worry about getting attacked in the middle of the night," Susan whispered reassuringly.

"I'm not worried," Hannah said defiantly.

"Whatever you say." Susan smirked. She turned over in her bag and soon her breathing slowed to the deep, even breaths of sleep.

Hannah closed her eyes and attempted to fall asleep but was plagued alternately by visions of her getting attacked by Sirius Black or being rescued from imminent attack by Harry Potter. As the last whispers died down and silence descended on the Hall, Hannah was sure that she was the only one awake.

"Stop thinking so much," she chided herself. "Think about History of Magic..."

This strategy must have worked, because the next thing she new, her eyes opened to sunlight pouring into the Great Hall and the enchanted ceiling displaying a bright blue sky.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes:**  
Sorry for the wait. I knew this chapter would be longer, but I didn't anticipate _how_ long. I had to abandon my attempt to write all of the chapter in just one or two scenes. I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep it up, I just didn't know when I would have to start further partitioning the chapters. Anyway, I hope it's worth the wait.

Also, I really didn't intend to write so much about the whole Yule Ball thing, but remember: this is from Hannah's POV, and in Hannah's mind, the Yule Ball was a pretty big deal. If this had been from Ernie's POV, we would have gotten a thousand words of homework and arguments and maybe two sentences on the ball. I tried to gloss over the Ball itself because I'm terrible at that preteen-romance thing, though. Sorry if you're disappointed. ;)

* * *

"We can never just have a normal start-of-term feast, can we?" Susan asked with a sigh. Dumbledore had just announced that there would be no quidditch this year, which had incensed much of the student body. Hannah personally didn't mind so much; to her, Quidditch was just an excuse to watch well-muscled boys in tight uniforms, even if they _were_ moving too fast to see much of interest. Plus, Hufflepuff's team had been pretty awful the past few years.

"The excitement nev--"

Hannah's reply was cut short by a loud bang. All heads in the hall immediately turned to the source of the noise: a grizzled, hunched-over man with a glass eye. There was absolute silence as the man clunked his way up to the front of the hall and had a word with Dumbledore, who didn't seem surprised at all that this scary-looking man had just barged in on the opening feast. A few of the new first years looked scared out of their wits, and Hannah couldn't blame them.

Ernie leaned over and whispered, "I bet that's the new Defense teacher. There aren't any new faces up at the staff table." Hannah nodded in agreement. This guy looked like he had been on the wrong end of a few dark curses.

After introducing the man as "Alastor Moody," Dumbledore clapped politely as was the custom for new staff members, but Ernie was the only student who joined him. After a few loud claps, he stopped and looked around sheepishly. "Come on, now I look like fool, why weren't you clapping?" he hissed softly.

"Nobody else was, idiot!" Justin whispered, with a smile. "And as a rule, I don't clap for people who don't take care of their appearance. I didn't clap for Lupin last year, either."

Hannah was still watching the new arrival. He was sitting at the staff table, viciously eating a sausage, with his magic eye swiveling all over the place. The teachers to his left and right were giving him a wide berth. Hannah thought that for a man who was supposed to be teaching them defense against dark magic, he looked like his defense against dark curses was pretty abysmal.

Dumbledore began to speak again, and the wandering attentions of the students (including Hannah) once again snapped back to their headmaster. "As I was saying, it is my pleasure to announce that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

* * *

Herbology having just ended, Susan and Hannah walked across the lawn to their next class, History of Magic.

"So, who are you going to ask to the ball?"

Hannah sighed. Susan never tired of asking this question. "I don't know yet," she replied for what seemed to be the hundredth time. She had some ideas about boys she would like to ask, but doubted she would ever work up the nerve to ask any of them (especially one in particular). Weren't the boys supposed to ask the girls, anyway? Her worst fear was that she would end up going to the Ball alone. It didn't seem likely, since she had plenty of male acquaintances who would probably be willing to go with her, but the prospect worried her nonetheless.

Hannah would normally have countered Susan's question with "Who do you want to go with?", but since the answer was unfailingly identical every time (Cedric Diggory), she decided not to waste her breath. Eventually Susan would have to face facts and realize that her dream of going to the Yule Ball with Cedric Diggory had about as much chance of actually happening as Hannah's fantasy of going with Harry Potter (who, surprisingly, wasn't taken yet despite being asked by about fifteen girls). When such a revelation happened would be the time that Hannah went back to participating in conversations about the Ball instead of trying to end them prematurely.

Susan appeared undaunted by Hannah's lack of enthusiasm on the subject. "Why don't you ask Harry Potter? We all know you _like_ him," she said, elongating the "like" for emphasis.

"Shut up!" Hannah said sharply, looking around to see if the boy in question was within earshot. He turned out to be about fifty paces behind them, so she went on to answer Susan's question. "He's already turned down fifteen girls. Probably because he didn't actually _know_ any of them. That's exactly what would happen if _I_ tried. I don't want to be number sixteen."

"Well, by the time you actually managed to do it, you would probably be around rejection number forty," Susan pointed out, smiling at her joke.

"Why even suggest if you don't think I stand a chance?" Hannah snapped.

"Fair enough. How about Neville? I'm sure nobody's asked _him_ yet."

Hannah considered for a moment. Neville was definitely an option. He was friendly and not terrible-looking, and it was unlikely that girls would be arguing over him. "It's a possibility," she said vaguely. "I'll probably just go with whoever'll have me." Which was the truth. She doubted she would enjoy herself that much; she was not fond of dancing and had never been one of those girls who loved to dress up. She would probably be with a boy who's only motive was to maybe get a kiss afterwards.

As they continued up the stairs towards History of Magic, Hannah continued to ponder. Maybe she _would_ ask Neville. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who would just be angling for a snog, and he was probably wouldn't want to drag her on the dance floor for every dance, either. It might not make the evening very exciting, but going with Neville would definitely be pleasant and more importantly, predictable.

* * *

Hannah's sense self-worth was not improved when Neville had declined her invitation to go to the ball. He was nice about it, of course, and he had turned red and seemed greatly embarrassed as he explained that he was already going with Ginny Weasley, but the rejection had stung. Now she realized that she had been looking forward to going with him before she had even asked...how dumb could you get? As she walked back to the Hufflepuff common room, she berated herself for being so idiotic. Now she was back at where she started...no idea who to ask, or whether to wait for someone to approach her, and the ball was only a week away. Why did this need to be so hard?

When she walked into the common room and flopped down next to Ernie on the couch, he seemed to immediately notice that something was wrong. "I'm going to hazard a guess and say that whatever you ran off to do after dinner was not as successful as you had hoped."

Even though his lightheartedness was grating, Hannah was glad that Ernie cared enough to inquire about her well-being. "You guessed right."

"What was it you ran off to do, exactly?"

Hannah had only told her intentions to one person, Susan, but figured that even if she managed not to tell anybody else, Neville might let something slip. "I asked Neville Longbottom to go to the Yule Ball with me, and he said no. He's already taken, can you believe that?" she said, as if still struggling to believe it for herself. "I'll probably end up going alone," she added sadly, looking down at her lap.

"You can go with me, if you'd like. You know, as friends."

Hannah's demeanor improved instantaneously, all her visions of a lonely Yule Ball dissipating. In the back of her mind, Ernie had always been the last resort, because it would be difficult to ask him without giving him the wrong impression. With him doing the asking, it was much easier on her end. "Sure!"

Never one for physical intimacy, Hannah did something she had never done before: hugged a boy. Ernie, in this case. He seemed surprised but hugged back. Then he went back to his homework.

That night, Hannah slept easy for the first time since the ball had been announced.

* * *

The Yule Ball went about as well as Hannah could have hoped. Ernie was actually a decent dancer, and seemed to enjoy himself on the dance floor, unlike most of the other boys, who looked like they would rather be anywhere but there. She had even been asked to dance by Neville, who seemed genuinely sorry that he had been forced to turn her down. He was a terrible dancer, but Hannah appreciated the gesture. The night, overall, was about as fun as a dance could be. Hannah was glad that she hadn't been able to work up the nerve to ask Harry Potter to the ball; he had neglected his date after the first dance (which was completely mad, since she was probably the most beautiful girl in the room, in Hannah's opinion), and after she deserted him, he spent the rest of the night looking miserable before leaving early. Ernie, while not stunningly handsome or gallant like her idealized version of Harry Potter, at least paid attention to her most of the night.

Now the excitement of the ball was over, and Hannah went back to her normal routine of fretting over homework and idly watching the progress of the Triwizard Tournament. Cedric had made his triumphal return from the first task with the Golden Egg in his hands, but when he had opened it, the sound had nearly deafened her. Susan (who had actually succeeded in asking Cedric to the Yule Ball) constantly questioned Cedric about his progress on decoding the egg's message, to which he always responded, "No progress on that front," or something similar. Susan, as a whole, seemed much more interested in the outcome of the Tournament than Hannah was.

Hannah's teachers were repeatedly bringing up the 4th year's rapidly approaching OWL's, giving Hannah something new to worry about. She knew she was hopeless at exams, that she completely disintegrated under pressure, but she tried to tell herself that she had a whole year to prepare for the OWL's, which would probably change the course of her life. This self-calming method hardly ever worked. It also didn't help that her brother (who was now in his last year at Hogwarts) constantly came up to her in the common room and told her stories of classmates who had fainted or had catastrophic mental breakdowns during OWL's.

Hannah was fairly sure that she would simply fail every single test and end up as a barmaid at the Leaky Cauldron or something like that, which didn't seem so bad considering she had no real idea of what she would do after Hogwarts. It seemed like most of her friends had at least some clue; even Zach, who was inattentive in classes and simply lazy in general, had decided that he would be the Quidditch columnist at the Daily Prophet.

* * *

"Can you see anything at all?" Susan asked, craning her neck around the tall boy sitting in front of her.

"Nope. I still see nothing but a hedge maze. I don't even know why we're watching this," Hannah replied in a bored voice. She really figured she could be using the time she was spending at the third task in a more fruitful manner. Like studying. End-of-term exams were coming up, and she _knew_ she would fail charms if she didn't do a lot more studying.

"Come on, it's the final task, we'll see which one of our crushes will win the tournament!"

"How are you so sure that it's not going to be Krum or Delacour?"

"Harry and Cedric have home-field advantage. The entire school is here to back them up," Susan said with certainty.

There was a sudden commotion as Harry Potter landed at the entrance of the maze, holding the cup. Cedric was with him, but he didn't look like he was moving. While Susan clapped and screamed her head off along with the rest of the student body, Hannah stood in silence. Didn't anybody realize that something was wrong with Cedric?

It took a few seconds, but, slowly, more students began to realize that something was dreadfully wrong. Harry was not celebrating at all; instead, he was curled up over Cedric (Cedric's _body_, Hannah thought morbidly). The people who had begun pouring out of the stands to congratulate the winner were now standing still as Dumbledore ran out to meet the two champions. Somebody, who looked like Cedric's dad, also pushed through the crowd to meet his son. There was hardly any noise, until people began screaming.

"He's dead!"

"_DEAD_! Diggory's _DEAD_!"

Hannah looked over at Susan and the rest of her friends. They all wore identical expressions of utter shock. Dumbledore yelled over the hysteria, "Students, back to your common rooms!" but nobody immediately obeyed this command. Girls were crying and hugging each other, boys stood silent with pale faces, and Susan had finally broken down in tears. Ernie was patting her back stiffly, and looked at Hannah with something approximating fear in his eyes.

She had the feeling that things had begun to change, for the worse.


End file.
